All-Star Recommendations....

[MzLyn23]

So CP and CP2 (my son) started at a new gym... Yes we left the gym they were at end of June and started somewhere new like 2 weeks or so ago... That's a whole other thread lol... Anyway, so the kids are required to have ankle weights and a mouthpiece... This is 100% new to me so any recommendations? I know my dd is to have up to 5lbs on each ankle and my son 1-2lbs (which I'm waiting for confirmation from his physical therapist to make sure the ankle weights don't affect what his orthotics are suppose to do with his ankles)... And I have never shopped for a mouth piece... So take it away my cheer peers... What do u recommend??



** I am trilingual - I speak English, Spanish, and Cheer... **

 

[SLM]

Not cheer but when I used to do Muay Thai I used a Shock Doctor mouth piece. It was rated very high and they have them that fit the smaller profile of a woman's mouth.

 

[Pebbles49]

I remembered my daughter's first year cheering, she was at a gym that required her to have a mouthpiece (I guess, to protect her mouth during stunting) and light weights, which I later found out this helps with strengthening the legs for jumps. I purchased everything I needed at Modell's and I simply told the store clerk what I was looking for and the age of the child it was for and the sport activity. Any sports store should be able to help you find the proper weights and mouthpiece..

PS: Whatever you do, make sure your child take those weights out of their gym bags when you flying to competitions. I laugh now, but my daughter and I were pulled out and almost missed our flight to Dallas; my daughter forgot to take those weights out of her gym bag and the TSA agent thought she packed bullets...hahaha!

 

[omgitssydthekid]

My cousin is a personal trainer and owns a fitness studio and has very bad things to say about ankle weights. She was telling me about it the other day and said that the body isn't designed to carry to extra weight there and when they're used without supervision of someone who is trained in fitness they can do more harm than good. I would ask to see if the person supervising (I assume a coach) is trained for that.


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[SL&AM]

My cousin is a personal trainer and owns a fitness studio and has very bad things to say about ankle weights. She was telling me about it the other day and said that the body isn't designed to carry to extra weight there and when they're used without supervision of someone who is trained in fitness they can do more harm than good. I would ask to see if the person supervising (I assume a coach) is trained for that.


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My cousin is a physical therapist and lectured me on this; she has seen a few cheerleaders who have been hurt for this and wanted to make sure CP's gym didn't use this method for jump training.

 

[retiredl5cheer]

I remembered my daughter's first year cheering, she was at a gym that required her to have a mouthpiece (I guess, to protect her mouth during stunting) and light weights, which I later found out this helps with strengthening the legs for jumps. I purchased everything I needed at Modell's and I simply told the store clerk what I was looking for and the age of the child it was for and the sport activity. Any sports store should be able to help you find the proper weights and mouthpiece..

PS: Whatever you do, make sure your child take those weights out of their gym bags when you flying to competitions. I laugh now, but my daughter and I were pulled out and almost missed our flight to Dallas; my daughter forgot to take those weights out of her gym bag and the TSA agent thought she packed bullets...hahaha!

I bet you $10 that @MzLyn23 is at your former gym. Jersey is so big, yet so small.

 

[Pebbles49]

I bet you $10 that @MzLyn23 is at your former gym. Jersey is so big, yet so small.

Yup, I agree with you on that! But in that gym's defense, they told us to buy the weights for the ankles in the beginning, but the kids seldom use them and that was mainly the reason why we forgot to unpack them... Additionally, after her 1st year, which we spent 2 years at this gym, they stopped requiring the cheerleaders to purchase ankle weights and it was never mentioned again, but it was mandatory for the cheerleaders to have the mouthpiece...

 

[omgitssydthekid]

My cousin is a physical therapist and lectured me on this; she has seen a few cheerleaders who have been hurt for this and wanted to make sure CP's gym didn't use this method for jump training.

Her daughters dance studio said they were required for the conditioning class and she called the owner pretty displeased. Needless to say, her daughter didn't bring the weights to class haha.


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[WinstonsGirl]

I started with a boil and bite mouthguard when I needed it for sports. They worked great, and yes, have women's and child sizes available too. I did find it bulky though, as I have a pretty small mouth. I finally got one from my dentist which is custom made. My health spending account covered it. About $35 for the boil and bite and maybe $150 for the custom made one. It was a much better fit in my mouth. They are useful for helping prevent concussions, which could be good for new skills.

 

[CheerBank]

I started with a boil and bite mouthguard when I needed it for sports. They worked great, and yes, have women's and child sizes available too. I did find it bulky though, as I have a pretty small mouth. I finally got one from my dentist which is custom made. My health spending account covered it. About $35 for the boil and bite and maybe $150 for the custom made one. It was a much better fit in my mouth. They are useful for helping prevent concussions, which could be good for new skills.

The mouthguard helped prevent concussions?

 

[NJ Coach]

They are useful for helping prevent concussions, which could be good for new skills.

I've only ever used them/seen them used in protecting teeth from getting knocked out

 

[luv2cheer92]

I've only ever used them/seen them used in protecting teeth from getting knocked out

There's been a handful of studies done correlating mouth guards to dissipating forces and shock absorption, but there isn't really enough concrete evidence either way to prove that they can help prevent concussions or not.

 

[Pebbles49]

Some of the coaches on the site, I was wondering, like other contact sports, which cheerleading is, should the bases and backspots be wearing helmet, mouthguards and face mask and the flyers wear helmets and mouthguards for protection or that will not look good for photos...?

 

[alexamarysouza]

There you guys go scaring me about my health again...haha my gym required us to have ankle weights and we would jump on our old dead floor with them. They did improve our jumps, but I've always had ankle problems and now it makes me wonder if the ankle weights had anything to do with it. Glad to hear opinions from physicians.

 

[astaley22]

Some of the coaches on the site, I was wondering, like other contact sports, which cheerleading is, should the bases and backspots be wearing helmet, mouthguards and face mask and the flyers wear helmets and mouthguards for protection or that will not look good for photos...?

Are you being sarcastic?